Bobby Lashley set to make MMA debut

Photo courtesy of wwe.com

Yesterday, it was confirmed by LordsofPain.net that former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Superstar and ECW Champion, Bobby Lashley (pictured above), will be making his Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) debut on Dec. 13 against an unknown opponent. The fight is scheduled to take place in Miami at the American Airlines Arena but it is unknown if it will be for the American Fight League (AFL), the promotion Lashley signed with and is in financial turmoil, or one of the bigger MMA promotions.

Lashley, who reluctantly walked away from a six-figure contract with WWE shortly before his return from injury in Jan. 2008 due to what Lashley claimed as circumstances beyond his control, has been training in MMA for the last year with America Top Team (ATT) in Flor. and has been praised by everyone at ATT for his tremendous work ethic and being a student of MMA.

Of course, there have been critics that have been bad-mouthing Lashley, saying he's going to get destroyed in his first fight and that he's only doing this because Brock Lesnar did it and he's trying to replicate Lesnar like he did in WWE.

First off, those critics need to STFU immediately about the comparisons between Lashley and Lesnar. WWE never attempted to make Lashley a newer version of Lesnar. That came from internet message boards where people were comparing Lashley and Lesnar due to them both wearing black attire and Lashley jumping on the apron like Lesnar did during his time in WWE. In fact, if you watch their WWE matches, they wrestled two different styles as Lesnar was more technical and power whereas Lashley was a pure power wrestler.

As far as MMA comparisons, I personally believe Lashley has more credible fighting skills than Lesnar because in addition to being an amateur wrestling champion, Lashley trains heavy in boxing, kick-boxing and is Army trained in hand-to-hand combat. Lashley is as strong and quick as Lesnar but also comes with a more varied style than Lesnar, who prefers ground-and-pound.

I honestly cannot wait to see how Lashley performs in MMA. I honestly think he could make it big in MMA with his tremendous work ethic and will surprise a lot of people who are already trying to write him off as another Kimbo Slice.

Lastly, I would like to share with you a youtube video of an interview Lashley gave to MMArated.com earlier this month about his transition into MMA. In this interview, Lashley comes off as an extremely humble and down-to-earth person that one wishes nothing but the best for him in his new occupation.